[IC] Blue Shield

[World Traveler]

Every 30 minutes Devin was getting texts from Dan giving him an update his partners status. He likely could have been at the hospital; however, after the tactical teams were done with their sweep the entire place became a crime scene without a senior detective. He hated the anchor the whole thing was and what it was doing, but he texted Jordan who said she would stop by the hospital and give him a non-Dan review. After all she had a medical degree whereas Dan had a college degree in criminal justice. When he needed help with justice he called Jordan still first so Dan wasn't the top man for the job right now.

A third sweep of the garage came up empty save for some heavy skid tire tracks. They think the shooter was able to exit out of the second garage exit that went through he building next to it. The rest of the day they had been combing security footage and cell phone recordings to find any hint of a clue. Four hours later and with nothing to show for it Devin was exhausted and needed to head back to the precinct to get started on the mountain of paperwork that was ahead of him after the event. Another five hours later and he had barely finished half. Thankfully the captain told him to go home and he considered it an order.

Swinging by Harper's favorite restaurant he ordered dinner for two and drive to her place. He took the bag of food and walked up to the front door. He had read the last text he got from Dan which said that Harper was heading home under protection. Since Devin didn't see them he figured they were parked in plain clothes. Since they didn't approach him he figured they recognized him. He felt it was a little lazy considering he looked like an Uber eats guy than a fellow cop. Devin knocked on the door twice and then opened the door which was unlocked.

[LunasRose]

"Hello, random guy carrying food bags.."

Sean, Harper's younger brother stopped at the foot of the stairs. He'd seen Devin a handful of times before, so he wasn't particularly worried. "She's in there.." He nodded towards the lounge, "Morphines worn off though, so she's a little prickly.." Or it could just be that he was the most irritating brother in the world and was rubbing her up the wrong way. Who knew.

Anyway, Harper had decided to head to the kitchen to raid around for chocolate, but paused enroute when she saw her Partner. "Hey." She offered him a small smile. "What's up?" The blonde was in full blown veg out mode, and was sporting a pair of dark purple yoga pants and a cropped green tee. Her left hand was splinted, the bullet having broken a couple of the knuckles on it's way to getting lodged in her hand, and her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail.

"You want a drink?" She asked, seemingly in good spirits as she wandered past and did a left turn into the kitchen.

"Love one! Coffee for me please.."

"Drop dead Sean!!"

"Such a charmer." And with a roll of his eyes, the brother headed back upstairs to his mancave. The siblings bore a slight resemblance, but it was nothing uncanny.

"We have pretty much everything." She continued, "Well, maybe not everything. That might be a slight exaggeration."

[World Traveler]

Devin had met Sean a few times here and there, but never anything of meaning as far as conversation goes. In most cases his opinions of him was colored by how Harper described him. Still he remembered what he was like when he was his age and figured they were similar enough. At least he had younger sisters and not an older one so that might be incurable.

Casually walking through the doorway and into the house he didn't notice anything really different from the last time he came which was to help Harper move back in. Plenty of awkward silences during that afternoon. The pizza he had been paid in was not worth it, but partners do what partners can as they say.

'Are you sure you should be drinking right after surgery?" Devin asked while thinking he sounded like his mother in his thoughts. He then walked into the kitchen and started to get silverware and cups down. He poured his partner a glass of water and himself a beer from the fridge. Taking the bag of food and putting it on the living room table he sat down on the couch and looked over at his partner.

"I got only one of them as spicy so make sure you now which is which." He said as he grabbed a fork and looked at what was on the TV. Thankfully it was one of the few channels that wasn't running the news of the shooting today on 24/7. While not one to pry Devin came over to check on his partner so that is what he was going to do. "How is the hand? Jordan said you were pretty lucky." He said without being able to look her in the eyes.

[LunasRose]

"It's a bit sore.. And I'm fairly sure that the Dr. said I'd be fine to drink hot chocolate."

Harper sniggered, but she was grateful that Devin had brought food. "I have some painkillers that I can take before I go to bed, so I should feel a little better in the morning."

The blonde noticed the lack of eye contact and perked a brow, "We aren't going to be all awkward are we?" That would have really sucked. They were fine that morning, what had changed in the meantime? It wasn't like they were in High School.. And it wasn't as though she didn't contemplate the possibility of doing it all again. Alot.

Yikes

She couldn't stop herself from nudging Devin with her elbow.

"You had a rough afternoon? Jordan told me that it was pretty crazy." Harper popped her feet up on the coffee table and bent her knees. The urge to be irritating washed over her, so she reached out with her good arm and pulled her buddy into a headlock.

"You snooze, you lose."

[World Traveler]

Devin realized his own awkwardness wasn't being hidden at all when his partner started asking about how he wasn't acting normal. Before he could assure her that his awkwardness wasn't surrounding their jungle gym usage of each others bodies, but over the fact that his partner had been shot. He knew if the situation was reversed she would be feeling the same thing. Like he failed her. This went beyond the whole male ego he and all other men were cursed with, but to the heart of being a partner. You have each others backs and would always take the bullet for them if they could.

Lost in thought he was set upon Harper and dragged into a headlock. This was somewhat new. Their bodies intertwined, but the almost childish playfulness of it was a side he hadn't seen in her before. "Are you seriously telling me I had the hard day at work?" He said not fighting the lock. He wasn't about to flail around her hand. "You got SHOT Harper? Don't you want to talk about that? Shot at too this wasn't meant for your hand..." His tone didn't hide his vulnerability. Jesus what are you trying to say he thought to himself before relaxing more so Harper would release him.

[LunasRose]

"I don't think whoever they meant to shoot me.." Harper said simply, and with that, she released Devin. "If you look at where we were stood.. I got shot when I bent over unexpectedly, if I'd been standing like I had been seconds before - it would have been nowhere near me. I think it was just intended to spook us. Because let's face it, once I was down, they could have easily finished me off." Did it freak her out a little? Yes, of course it did. But their job was dangerous. She really couldn't dwell on it, or she'd never even venture outside.

"And it was a tiny slug. If you' re planning to kill someone, you don't use something that small." The blonde turned to face Devin, "It's not your fault." It was endearing to see Coal a little vulnerable, and not being a colossal clown. So, she felt compelled to kiss him on the cheek. "You're cute when you're all awkward and worried."

[World Traveler]

Stroking his ego with compliments could work on Devin, but he felt he needed to keep a straight face thorough this conversation. Points she was making were fair, and likely missed because of how out of sorts this event put him. Every time he had tried to get through the paperwork he was being reminded of the last two years of doing it with her across from him at her desk. They were good together at work, great together in bed, and not bad on the dance floor.

"Yea well red is really not your color so lets make sure we don't make that mistake in the future." Devin was feeling more comfortable but didn't sit up. Instead leaning back into Harper. After she kissed him on the cheek he leaned in and kissed her back this time on the lips only to have anything further from starting when Sean came running in and started taking some of the spring rolls.

[LunasRose]

"Oh look, it's the food Ninja.."

Sean smirked, already eating his ill gotten gains, "What? I'm thinking of your waistline.. Do you know how much grease there is in these things?"

"Yes, I do.. And I don't care." Harper rolled her eyes in amusement, and reached behind her back to throw a cushion at Sean's head. Her aim was surprisingly accurate.

"Hey, now come on.. That was a bit harsh, Harp."

"I don't like sharing food, you know this. Now sod off, will you. Mom went shopping earlier. The cupboards are stuffed.."

"Yes, but I can smell chinese...and anyway, did I just see.."

"Bye Sean.."

The brother huffed, "Alright, fine.. You get fat - don't come crying to me that your Yoga pants are too tight.." And with that, he sulked off. Harper couldn't suppress a laugh as she watched. "He's a dork."

As if yoga pants could ever be too tight.

[World Traveler]

After Harper’s brother left the room started to go quiet in a comfortable way. They happily sank into the couch enjoying their food and mutual company. Their conversation went from one thing to another with no clear focus which was the point Devin was trying to make. He figured she might not have fully processed what had happened today and if that was the case he didn’t want her to be alone.

“So you are saying if you had to choose you would rather go to a basketball game then a baseball game even though the music is better at baseball games?” Devin said with a laugh. He finally got up and started to clean the living room up after their food hurricane. Back and forth between the kitchen and living room he spotted how great she looked in the yoga pants. NOrmally she was entirely put together, but now in her natural habitat.

On his last trip back he noticed the two fortune cookies were left and broke his open. He didn’t care to read it and instead just put the cookie down and went on top of Harper and started to kiss her. Holding himself above her so as to not crush her Devin felt every emotion he felt the night before. Looking down at her he felt as though everything that happened last night was about to happen again, but he knew better.

Afterall some of those positions he didn’t think were possible considering her hand now.

[LunasRose]

"No, I actually prefer Ice Hockey. They have far better music, and I love it when the players skate by and whack the perspex with their stick." Perhaps a childhood spent in Minniapolis was starting to show. Home of the Might Ducks and all that jazz. "I hate baseball. It's so. Dull, and the uniform is rediculous." It was odd, hanging out With Devin in such a relaxed environment, without the addition of alcohol. Odd, but refreshing. Sure they weren't drunk at work, but they had other worries. Other worries and a Professional persona to uphold.

To say that it was a slight surprise when Coal kissed her, would have been an understatement. I mean sure, she'd thought about the previous night, but she'd blamed the alcohol. That would never happen when they were sober.. Just to help rationalise the situation. Did she want it to happen sober? Of course. That wasn't the point. They just had no excuse to fall back on when booze wasn't involved.

Harper returned the kiss, her knee bending and settling against Coal's side. What was going on between them? It was like some bonkers magnetic force. Was the Joel angle really been the only component that had been keeping them apart? It was worth the contemplation, but she'd worry about that some other time. Maybe.

"My rooms over there.." Harper pointed behind her, towards a hallway. It was an upside down house. Half bungalow hybrid. "I don't really need Sean wandering in" She'd never live it down. It really would have been just like High School all over again.

[World Traveler]

Time Skip

The past few weeks were full of late nights due to work, passion, or lust for Devin and Harper. It hadn't become a thing yet; however at least twice a week she was staying at his apartment overnight. With her current roommates not leading to many moments alone it was the natural order of things and made for the obvious choice. At first Harper was against anything in the office, but after a few late night food orders and a clearly unoccupied interrogation room things started to happen.

This morning Devin had gotten out of bed later than most and headed to work wearing dark wash jeans and a black shirt along with a mustard jacket. With the extra time he decided to walk part of the way to work after getting a bagel along the way. During this walk he ran into a few of his fellow neighbors and shared some small talk pleasantries.

When he reached the next station he went down and took the train the rest of the way to work and arrived around five minutes before work formally started. Since the shooting that meant Devin was actually late. People had been coming in early to work extra time before shifts. When one of their own was shot at it meant all of them were shot at. Devin tossed a muffin he got on Harpers desk and sat down on his own and started working on what was in front of him.

[LunasRose]

Harper had just escaped a Physio appointment, so was running a tiny bit late herself. The hand was healing, but it was taking a whole lot longer for the nerves to do their thing. Apparently, the knitting back together had the longest recovery time, so for now, she just had to get used to randomly dropping stuff from time to time.

It had been quite an odd few weeks. Life had certainly changed, but in perhaps the most unexpected way. The thing with Devin - whatever that could be classified as.. And work had been pretty stressful. No one felt like they were getting any leg room with this latest case and people were start to grow frustrated.

When she did eventually get to the office, Harper wandered in, in her usual breezy fashion. She'd spent the weekend out of town at a wedding, and she was still struggling to get her hair straight again. It was curly, and she was wearing a work sweater and a pair of purple skinny jeans. Admittedly knackered from a weekend of partying, she sat down at her desk to find a muffin. Ain't that cute. And what was even more cute, was that she'd even missed Devin.

"Ah, the muffin fairies have been, huh?"

[World Traveler]

"Well I guess the fairy appreciated your help last week with digitizing most of the field reports last week." Devin said with a smile. His weekend had mostly consisted of cleaning his apartment and going to his cousins little league baseball game. He had hoped to have brought Harper, but the wedding plans from five months ago sort of took precedent. He had wondered if he should have maybe asked to go, but then thought against it. They talked about the weekend they each had as they got to work. Devin tried to make baseball exciting for Harper which was difficult, but he loved it so he went along telling her about the almost hit he had in the 7th inning and the almost catch he had in the 4th.

Finally a lab tech walked by and put a big box on his desk. "Secondary findings from the garage. Need your signature." The cop handed Devin a chain of evidence sheet for him to sign. He did so and then slapped the paper on the double sided tape lid of the box.

Picking up the box Devin gave Harper a wink. "I'll take this into evidence if you want to see to that second task?" he said casually. He then made his way to the buildings evidence lock up. Using his key card he opened the door and then through the racks of case files started to look for the correct place for the garage evidence while waiting to see if Harper was going to join him for some afternoon nookie.

[LunasRose]

Every ounce of common sense and professionalism told Harper not to follow Devin into the Evidence room, but unfortunately her legs weren't listening. The blonde stood from her seat and picked up her muffin, taking a bite as she wandered through the office. At the start of whatever this was between them, she had fiercely protested that this wasn't going to happen. Fiercely. Yet, turns out, she had crappy willpower.

The door clicked and she walked inside, "You brought chocolate." She observed, as she headed for where he was fiddling with boxes and actually looking professional for a change.

"So.." Harper smirked, "Admit it, you missed me. Alot." Of course a dorky eyebrow waggle followed as she finished off the remainder of her sweet treat. "On a scale of one to ten, how much?" Figures were necessary. Besides, she already new they favorable. They'd talked a ton on the phone.

[World Traveler]

When he heard the door open again he smiled and bet it was a certain blonde that had been on his mind a lot. She rounded the corner and walked down to the edge of the evidence rack where he was finishing up. Resting an arm on the box he leaned against the rack and looked back at her while she finished walking towards him. "Guilty as charged." He said when she pressed him on if he missed her or not.

"Somehow my place still hasn't actually gotten clean from when you last said over and I had all weekend to clean." Devin knew this was rather odd considering how opposites they were. She clean at work and slob at home. Him clean at home and a slob at work. Though he didn't mention that this was usually due to the fact that a bachelor living in New York should never have a dirty apartment. Especially if a guest could come by.

At first he held up 3 fingers. He pretended to think as if the math was hard or confusing. "No scratch that..." he said with a grin. Then he raised his other hand from the box and held up 8 fingers. "The two fingers were the ones that got to use the remote so they are a little bias" he added as he moved in and wrapped his partner in his arms. "You know this is one of the places with no cameras... and only one sound activated entrenches...."

[LunasRose]

"You make it sound like I'm messy. Your apartment was messy before I even got there.."

Harper felt slightly offended by the slight suggestion that she was the cause of Devin's untidy apartment. The blonde quirked her eyebrow dangerously. "It also worries me that you seem to keep a little checklist of each room in this building, and whether or not they're recorded." With a small roll of her eyes, she planted a kiss on Coals cheek. Sure he was annoying, but it had all grown rather endearing over the course of the last month.. Or, if she was being honest, two years.

"And, I'm fairly sure that there are camera's in here. It wouldn't make sense for there not to be.."

Did Johnson protest when he pulled her into his arms? Absolutely not. Although, she probably should have. Instead, she reached out and gave his cheeks a playful squeeze.

"Well, I missed you a ten.. But I'm scared to say that just incase you start giving me the Mia treatment." Harper kissed Devin again, this time on the lips as her hands slipped to his shoulders. Rather teasingly, or just to be a jackass..she pressed her hips against him. "How sure are you about the cameras?"

[World Traveler]

“Never hurts to know where the eyes are Harper” Devin said as he nodded over to the fact that the camera in question was aimed towards the more delicate cases and confidential information boxes. Where they stood in the arms of each other was a blind spot. He knew this, not because this was a regular occurrence, but because he had to work a case where a cop was mishandling evidence and accidentally switching them around due to a poorly drafted organization system.

The problem wasn’t fixed due to budgets but they moved the camera to better protect the more important parts of the evidence lockup. Moving in and kissing Harper he figured he could put her at ease.”Trust me not a camera on us.” He then kissed her again and this time with a little more lust behind it. He wasn’t expecting something hot and heavy, but at the moment he was in full blown Harper mode and he never could promise anything when he was like this.

He moved his hand under her shirt to the small crease in her back. The skin to skin made his hand nearly light on fire. Her skin was also so smooth and welcoming to the touch. Pulling her in slightly more he kissed her again and said. “Let me make up that two point difference.” The make out session quickly lead to naughty thoughts flooding into Devin's brain, but he was able to keep them in check for now as he continued to enjoy his hands on his partners figure.

[LunasRose]

"I don't know whether I'm a little worried that you know where all of the camera's are.."

Harper glanced up at the ceiling in amusement. Still, she had her sensible head on now. And with a cheerful smile, she gave Devin a cutesy kiss on the lips, before shaking her head.

"I think we need to stop." And with a knowing smirk, the blonde perked a perfectly manicured eyebrow. Did she really want to stop? Absolutely not. But did she want to to do that in the evidence lockup? Nooooo. Not in the slightest.

"So, what are you making me for dinner?" She asked cheekily, reaching out to poke the tip of Coal's nose with her index finger. "My hand is really sore. I couldn't possibly cook for myself." It might have been an exaggeration, but it did hurt - and after physio, it was always one big mess of a cramp. And besides, that hadn't seen each other for the whole weekend, she wanted to spend some time with him.

Not that they had, had that conservation. None of the, what are we talk.. Or where is this going. They'd just sort of slotted into it. No drama. Just a natural click of sorts.

"Oh, and I can make that baseball game next weekend if you like.. You know, seeing as I missed the last one." Everybody knew she hated baseball, but she was willing to give it a go.

[World Traveler]

“Indian Shrimp and Lentils” Devin said to the dinner question. He let himself cool down as it was clear fun time in the evidence lock up was not on his partners mind. At least not this time around. His ears perked up; however, when she said she was fee to go to the baseball game this coming weekend.

A big smile on his face at the news made him very easy to read. “Well then we better get you a baseball camp. I love that look with the ponytail coming out of it too if you are taking notes…”

Devin was interrupted by the crash of a box hitting the ground. Looking over he saw down at the end Dan standing and staring at them as if he had seen a ghost. Crap… Devin thought as he quickly stepped back from his partner. Still the damage was done. How else do you explain a hug and kiss like that.

Never one to win a game of poker Dan seemed to try and act surprised to see them but the cat was out of the bag. “O hey you guys…” he was already sweating and Devin started to wonder just how this guy was ever going to interrogate a suspect on his own.

Having moved well apart by now Devin didn’t know really what this suddenly meant for Harper. Was she scared? Worried? Ashamed? For the first time in a very long time Devin felt out of control in a relationship and he didn't like it. “Dan. Leave.” He said and as quickly as he appeared Dan bolted for the door and straight to Jordan with the best gossip this precinct had ever seen.

Devin looked over at Harper with his hands on his hips. “So what now?”

[LunasRose]

Dan's sudden appearance was highly entertaining. He looked like he was about to cry when put on the spot, and Harper actually had to look away to stop herself from laughing. So, it wasn't ideal that they'd been caught, but it wasn't the end of the world. Was it? Or was it? Or was Devin about to go all Mia about it and run for the hills...

"I don't know.... I guess he'll tell someone, and you'll have to shoot him." Johnson joked, pushing herself away from the shelving unit. Of course she felt as though the situation should be causing her a little more stress, but she couldn't bring herself to obsessively freak out. Joel finding out would probably involve a lot of testosterone and death glares, but meh, he could suit himself.

"I don't really know what to say." She flicked her green eyes to her partner, "I mean, I feel pretty okay about it... Are you okay about it?" The tone suggested that she was nervous to ask it.

"And baseball caps, really? You just get quirker."